ANNOYANCE FROM RATS.—LORD CASTLEREAGH’S IMPOSTURES.—FRENCH
HEIRESSES.
Thursday, 27th.—We had nearly gone without our breakfast: an incursion of the rats, which had entered our kitchen from several points, during the night, had deprived us of every thing eatable. We are much infested with these vermin; they are of enormous size, and very daring and mischievous; it took them very little time to penetrate our walls and floors. Attracted by the smell of the victuals, they even made their way into our drawing-room whilst we were at dinner. We were several times obliged to give them battle after the dessert; and one evening, when the Emperor wished to retire, and his hat was handed to him, a rat of the largest size jumped out of it. Our grooms had tried to rear some poultry, but they were compelled to abandon the attempt, because the rats devoured all the fowls. They would even seize them in the night on their perches.
The Emperor was this day translating some review or journal, in which it was mentioned that Lord Castlereagh had asserted at a public meeting that Napoleon, even since his fall, had not hesitated to declare that, so long as he should have reigned, he would have continued to make war against England, having never had any object but that of her destruction.
The Emperor could not help feeling provoked by these words. “Lord Castlereagh,” said he, with indignation, “must be much accustomed to lying, and must place great dependence on the credulity of his auditors. Can their own good sense allow them to believe that I could ever make such a foolish speech, even if I had had such intentions!”
It was afterwards stated that Lord Castlereagh had said, in parliament, that the reason why the French army was so much attached to Bonaparte was that he made a kind of conscription of all the heiresses of the empire, and then distributed them amongst his generals. “Here again,” observed the Emperor, “Lord Castlereagh tells a wilful falsehood. He came amongst us; he had an opportunity of seeing our manners and laws, and of knowing the truth; he must be certain that such a thing was quite impracticable and out of my power. What does he take our nation for? The French were never capable of submitting to such tyranny. I have, no doubt, made a great number of matches; and I would gladly have made thousands more; it was one of the most effectual methods of amalgamating and uniting irreconcileable factions. If I had had more time to myself, I would have taken great pains to extend these unions to the provinces, and even to the Confederation of the Rhine, in order to strengthen the connection of those distant portions of the empire with France; but in such proceedings, I exerted only my influence, and never my authority. Lord Castlereagh disregards such distinctions; it is important to his policy to render me odious; he is not scrupulous about the means; he does not shrink from any calumny; he has every advantage over me. I am in chains; he has taken all possible precautions for keeping my mouth shut, and preventing the possibility of my making any reply, and I am a thousand leagues from the scene of action; his position is commanding; nothing stands in his way. But certainly this conduct is the ne plus ultra of impudence, baseness, and cowardice.”
I shall now introduce an instance which may serve to prove the truth of the foregoing assertion of Napoleon with respect to French heiresses. I had the account from the lips of the person chiefly interested.
M. d’Aligre had a daughter who was heiress to immense property: the Emperor conceived the idea of marrying her to M. de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza, for whom he had such a particular regard that he was looked upon as a kind of favourite. His personal qualities, not less than his high official employment, rendered him one of the first personages in the empire. The Emperor, therefore, never imagined that there could be the slightest impediment to this union. He sent for M. d’Aligre, who often came to Court, and made his request; but M. d’Aligre had other views, and declined the alliance. Napoleon urged it in every possible way, but M. d’Aligre remained immoveable. From his manner of relating the affair to me, it was evident that he thought he had shewn great courage, and, in fact, he deserved the credit of having done so, for he imagined, like all of us, that it was very dangerous to thwart the Emperor’s inclinations. We were, however, all mistaken; we did not know Napoleon. I am now convinced that the justice due to individuals, and to family rights in particular, are sacred to him; and I never heard that M. d’Aligre suffered any inconvenience whatever through his refusal.
After dinner, the Emperor tried some of Pigault Le Brun’s romances and others of the same kind, but in vain: after turning over a few pages of each, he rejected them all, saying that they were all in very bad taste.
THE GOVERNOR’S STATEMENTS RESPECTING THE
EXPENSES AT LONGWOOD, &C.
Friday, 28th.—Towards one o’clock, the Emperor sent for me and my son. We carried him the first chapter of the Campaigns of Italy, with our last work completing it. He detained us until almost six o’clock.